Unai Emery will hope Aston Villa return to winning ways in the Premier League on Sunday.placeholder image
Unai Emery will hope Aston Villa return to winning ways in the Premier League on Sunday. | Getty Images
Aston Villa face Bournemouth at Villa Park this weekend, and Unai Emery will have bad memories of a previous refereeing encounter
Aston Villa return to Premier League action this weekend and will hope to begin a renewed push for Europe as they face high-flying Bournemouth at Villa Park. The Cherries are in fifth place, level on points with third, and will prove a stern test.
Villa have been on strong form themselves, winning seven matches out of nine in all competitions. The fact that the Villans still sit down in 11th reflects the difficult start they made to the campaign, but their return to form has been admirable and included victories against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. Defeat at Liverpool last time out - thanks in part to an Emiliano Martinez error - represented a blow, which will only be a minor one if victory can be achieved on Sunday.
Unai Emery’s men are also going well in Europe, with three victories from four Europa League matches proving the Villans’ credentials as one of the favourites for the competition. Maccabi Tel Aviv were easily swept aside 2-0 at Villa Park on Thursday night.
Referee appointment for Aston Villa vs Bournemouth will give Emery nightmares
The Premier League have announced their refereeing appointments for this weekend’s Premier League fixtures on their website. John Brooks will be the man in the middle for the clash, while his assistants will be Simon Bennett and Lee Betts. The fourth official is James Bell, VAR is Peter Bankes and assistant VAR will be Gary Beswick.
Villa have a strong record in matches officiated by Brooks, as they have won 10 out of 13 matches under the supervision of the Englishman. Despite this, however, Emery will no doubt be reminded by a controversial evening involving Brooks when he was on VAR duties nearly 12 months ago.
The Spanish manager was left incensed after Nottingham Forest came from behind to win 2-1 against Villa in stoppage time in December 2024, leaving the Villans to rue a highly controversial penalty call which went against them in the first half.
The situation involved Morgan Rogers and Elliot Anderson, as Rogers broke free into the penalty area but was clearly dragged back by the arm of Anderson. The contact appeared to continue for several seconds and sent the Villa forward off balance, but referee Sam Barratt was unmoved and, inexplicably, was not sent to the screen by VAR Brooks, who agreed with the decision of no penalty.
‘Where is VAR?’ - Emery was left furious by controversial call
Emery was enraged at full-time after his side went on to lose the game, directing his wrath towards Brooks and feeling he had not done his job as VAR correctly in failing to take action against Anderson for the foul.
In his post-match press conference, Emery said: "Now I have watched it, it’s a clear penalty. It’s a massive mistake from the VAR. Today the VAR is a big mistake because it was clear, he [Rogers] had an advantage.
“Please. OK, not the referee. I respect the referee and I respect the VAR, but the VAR is there to help the referees. We watched it after because everybody is VAR. We are watching it on TV, it’s a clear penalty. Where is the VAR?"
With Villa ultimately missing out on the top five on goal difference in May, it was controversial decisions such as this which proved costly for Emery and his side. They will be hoping for a smoother ride on Sunday when Bournemouth come to town.
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